Paari School of Business (PSB) is organising an External Research Talk on “Internet Adoption, Gender and Productivity in Informal Firms in India” on February 26, 2026. The talk will be delivered by Ms Jayati Chatterjee, Research scholar at IIT Madras.
Using nationally representative data from 2010 to 2023, the study analyses the impact of internet adoption on firm productivity in India’s unorganised sector, with a particular focus on gender differences. The findings reveal that internet adoption leads to an average increase of 28 percent in firm productivity. However, a substantial gender productivity gap remains, as female-owned enterprises exhibit nearly 48 percent lower productivity compared to male-owned firms. Notably, female-led enterprises that adopt internet technology experience a 23 percent increase in productivity, which helps narrow the productivity gap relative to firms that do not adopt the internet. These results underscore the significant role of digital technology in enhancing productivity and fostering gender-inclusive growth within the informal sector.
About the Speaker
Ms Jayati Chatterjee is a research scholar in Economics at IIT Madras, specializing in development economics and industrial organisation. Her research focuses on digital technology adoption among small firms, with an emphasis on gender. Her work has been published in top peer-reviewed journals, and she has presented her research at international conferences, including those organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), and the University of Tokyo. She received the Best Paper Award at ICMM 2024, held at IIM Amritsar.